


i choose you.

by porcelainsimplicity



Series: i refuse to admit there was a beach divorce (aka all my charles/erik fics) [61]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 03:19:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16884660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcelainsimplicity/pseuds/porcelainsimplicity
Summary: Tell the world that we finally got it all rightI choose youI will become yours and you will become mineI choose youor:  Charles and Erik end up students at the same university in Scotland.  Things happen.  Hank and Raven are somewhat concerned.





	i choose you.

**Author's Note:**

> so I'm going through my RPF fics again, having taken them all down because they make me uncomfortable, and this one was one that I really liked, so I'm adapting it just like I did with Tonight You're Perfect. I wrote this back in 2014, hence the framing of it, but I think it still works now. 
> 
> So this was an idea that had been in my head basically since I found out the date on which same-sex marriage would begin in Scotland, and I just couldn't figure out a way to tell it that wouldn't end up being six hundred thousand words, which I'm sure some of you would have loved but would have driven me to alcoholism, until I came up with this. it's a strange way of telling a story, and there's some repetition, so I'm sorry if you hate that but I do tend to love a bit of repetition when I write stories in this manner, so I apologize. Also, my entire knowledge of St. Andrews University and the bar Ma Bells comes from reading entirely too many biographies of William and Catherine.
> 
> I hope you like it, and that you'll tell me if you do. comments make me feel better about myself.

New Year's Eve, 2014. It was set to be a monumental day in the history of Scotland, the first day upon which same-sex couples could legally marry. It was going to be a pretty monumental day for a thirty-five-year-old psychologist and a thirty-seven-year-old solicitor in Paisley too, because it was the day on which they would marry. It was a marriage long in the making, and would legally consummate what their friends liked to call “the longest on/off relationship EVER.” Both the psychologist and the solicitor were eagerly looking forward to it, happily planning away for the party that night. But there was one thing that was going to make the event better than anything else.

Their friends had no idea it was happening.

 

 

Charles Xavier had grown up in a rough part of Glasgow, thought about becoming a priest until he decided he couldn't live the rest of his life without sex, and had ended up at St. Andrews as a psychology student with no direction. Erik Lehnsherr had grown up in the considerably more well off city of Munich in Germany, grew tired of Judaism long before he ever realized his sexuality, and surprised his entire family by taking off for university in Scotland to be a solicitor instead of taking over the family restaurant. Erik had been there for two years before he ran into Charles for the first time, and it was a meeting that would change both their lives.

Not that either of them realized that at the time, because Erik had, literally, just run into Charles.

Charles had three boxes full of books in his hands and was trying to make his way to his residence hall when he came around a bend in the path and Erik, who'd had his head down checking his watch, had run directly into him. The boxes and Charles and Erik all went crashing to the ground, and when their eyes had met for the first time, there wasn't even a spark. Charles had rolled his eyes and started picking up his books; Erik had murmured a brief apology and gone back to his run.

They didn't see one another again for three months, until Charles settled down at the bar in Ma Bells while Erik was working behind it. Charles looked miserable and out of place after a lengthy fight over the telephone with his mother over his studies; Erik felt bad for him and made him stronger drinks than he ordered. Neither one remembers who started the conversation; all they remember is that the night ended with Charles in Erik's bed.

Charles went crawling back to his residence hall the next morning before Erik woke up; Erik slept in and missed his first two classes. Charles was too embarrassed about what had happened to go back to Ma Bells; Erik had so many one night stands that this one was practically forgotten about by noon the next day.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” had begun.

 

Hank had eventually been the one who coaxed Charles into going back to Ma Bells when he had asked him to come to the small bar just in case Hank needed a quick out if his date didn't work out. Charles put a baseball hat on, settled down at a table in the back, and tried to read while Hank was having an awkward first date in front of the bar. The girl didn't stay long – Charles hadn't really expected her to, but he'd been hopeful for Hank – and soon Hank had dragged him from the back to the bar, and Charles was blushing his way through drink orders once he realized Erik was still the bartender there.

Erik, to his credit, recognized Charles, recognized how embarrassed Charles was, and exploited it for all it was worth. (To this day, Charles calls him a bastard whenever the night is brought up; Erik and Hank just laugh at him.) It wasn't long before Hank's attentions were taken away by a girl from one of his classes, and it was just Charles at the bar, blushing more every time Erik said something to him. Erik kept him plied with alcohol, kept him talking about his psychology course, and kept him interested in going back to Erik's again.

The next morning, Charles woke up in Erik's bed to find Erik already awake and watching him. There'd been a brief, brief conversation before Erik had pounced upon him once more, and neither of them made it to any of their classes that day. Hank finally called Charles around four in the afternoon because he was concerned, and Erik silently laughed as Charles blushed his way through explaining where he'd spent the night and most of the day. Not long after that, Charles slipped out of Erik's flat with his hat pulled down low on his head, with plans to meet up with Hank in an hour to go over what he'd missed in the classes they shared, and with plans to meet up with Erik again following that for some more sex.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was on.

 

Two months later, Charles swore to Hank that he was never going to see Erik ever again, never going to Ma Bells ever again, never going to miss a class to fuck a hot guy ever, ever again. It took Hank two days to get the story out of him, but Charles eventually confessed to thinking that there was more than just sex to his relationship with Erik, while Erik didn't view what they were doing as a relationship at all. Hank agreed that Erik sounded like someone Charles had better stay away from, Charles silently thanked him for not asking for more information because he really didn't want to tell him that Erik was having no problems finding other bar patrons to go home with on nights when Charles couldn't be there, and that was that.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was firmly off.

 

Charles's ban on Ma Bells lasted exactly three months, two weeks, and five days. Hank had a fellow American for a girlfriend by then, and Raven was insistent that the only way he was ever going to find a boyfriend for himself was to go out there and look for one. Charles said he'd go out with the two of them and for them to pick the place, and then found himself led directly into Ma Bells on a night when Erik was working. He almost turned around and left on the spot, but Raven had grabbed a hold of him, dragged him to the bar, and started ordering drinks. Charles kept his head down, even when Erik greeted him, and grabbed his drink and headed to a table in the back before he could say a word.

He had not wanted to admit to how much he missed Erik, but Hank took one look at him and Charles realized he had no choice but to admit it. Raven, hearing the story for the first time, found the whole thing fascinating, and swore she could tell just from the way that Erik had looked at him that he wasn't the callus jerk that Charles was making him out to be. Charles had never been more thankful than when Hank and Raven disappeared for the night, because he really didn't want to talk about Erik any more.

Still, he stayed until the end of Erik's shift, looked up when Erik slid into the seat that Hank had left empty, and listened when Erik asked him if he wanted to have dinner one night that week. He got the yes out somewhere between Ma Bells and Erik's flat, when Erik's lips left his long enough for Charles to do more than just gasp in some air to breathe.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was firmly back on.

 

When Charles's first year at St. Andrews came to an end, he had a choice to make – return to Glasgow and his mother, with whom his relationship had remained frosty since that fight over the telephone, or go to Germany with Erik for the summer, knowing that if he did so, his tuition was likely going to stop being paid and his mother would never let him come back home again. Erik made a convincing case for him and Germany, and Charles had always wanted to see Germany. But there was a lot of stuff about that trip that made Charles wary, like the “meeting the parents” thing, and the “having to pretend they weren't in a relationship” thing, and the “Erik wouldn't admit they were in a relationship anyway” thing.

In the end, Charles decided he needed a career more than he needed a guy who wouldn't even admit to dating him when pressed with the question, so he went back to Glasgow and his mother. Erik didn't answer his calls on the few times Charles tried to make contact with him, and Charles figured that was that. He told Hank through an email that he thought Erik had been nothing more than one, gigantic, year-long mistake. Hank concurred.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was firmly back off.

 

Hank and Raven dragged Charles to Ma Bells the first night all three of them were back at St. Andrews. Erik was there tending bar. Their eyes met from across the room. This time, there was a spark. Charles woke up in Erik's bed the next morning. Erik made him breakfast.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was firmly back on.

 

It was Raven that coined the phrase “the longest on/off relationship EVER” sometime during the holiday break of Charles's second year of university, because by that point his relationship with Erik had been on, off, on, off, back on, and then decidedly back off again. Charles was staying with Hank and Raven at some place in Birmingham for the break, and Raven was telling a fellow American St. Andrews student, Alex Summers, all about Charles and Erik when the phrase manifested itself into their lingo. Charles had hated it. Alex had laughed.

Charles called Erik one night to wish him a happy Christmas, thinking that at the very least he should be friendly. He heard a decidedly male voice in the background and hung up before he could say a word. Then, just to spite Erik, he fucked Alex for the rest of the break.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was firmly off, and the “seeing other people era” began.

 

Charles, Hank, and Raven were sharing a flat that year. It didn't take much to talk them into Alex moving in. It didn't take Charles much talking to convince Alex to move in either. Hank and Raven stayed silent when Alex moved directly into Charles's room, but they didn't stay silent when the bruises started appearing on Charles's skin. Charles tried to tell them that it was fine, that he didn't mind, that rough was good sometimes and maybe they should try it. But there was a particularly loud scream of pain one night, and one highly embarrassing moment when Hank and Raven kicked down the door to his room later, Alex was on the streets, and Charles started staying in the flat more than usual.

Erik, in the meantime, had started sleeping with one of Charles's professors, so Charles was forced to see them together all over town. Charles started staying even more in the flat, and that professor stopped being one of Charles's favorites. That lasted for about three months, during which Charles inquired four times if he absolutely had to have that class for graduation, before there was a very public breakup in the middle of the grocery of all places. Hank and Raven, concerned with Charles's isolationism since the end of the Alex affair, dragged him to Ma Bells, planted him in a chair at the bar, and told him and Erik to fix it.

Charles woke up in Erik's bed the next morning.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was back on, and the “seeing other people era” was over.

 

Erik was about to graduate and had announced he'd be doing the next part of his law degree in Edinburgh. Charles tried to talk him into staying at St. Andrews, but Erik said he'd had enough of the small town and he needed a much bigger city. Charles had gotten very quiet and hurt until Erik had pulled him close and made sure he realized that this didn't mean he'd had enough of Charles. They were just going to have to wait to be together.

Charles was relieved, because somewhere along the line, he'd realized he'd fallen in love with Erik. He didn't tell him that, however. He didn't think it was the appropriate time. Still, they spent so much time having sex that Erik barely made it to his graduation.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was put on hold.

 

Erik met an American man named Sebastian in Edinburgh and couldn't help himself.

Charles found out in an email.

Hank and Raven wanted to go Edinburgh to kill him, but Charles wouldn't let them. After all, all he wanted was for Erik to be happy, even if it wasn't with him.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was back off.

 

Charles was pursued by an American freshman named Moira for the rest of his third year. He tried telling her that he was gay; she seemed not to notice. Eventually, he just gave in to it, because it was nice to have someone else to talk to while Hank and Raven were flirting or dancing or kissing. Still, at the end of the year, he made it very clear that despite some kisses and one drunken night that Charles never wanted to remember ever, there was absolutely nothing going on between them. Moira was upset, Charles stressed that he was gay, Hank and Raven filled the awkward silence with tales of “the longest on/off relationship EVER.”

By the end of it, Moira was feeling sorry for Charles instead of herself. Charles didn't even want to think about what that meant about his longing for Erik.

Meanwhile, American Sebastian in Edinburgh turned out to be an asshole. Charles found this out in another email and tried to tell himself he didn't care. Instead he called Erik up and spent all night talking to him.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was something, but neither of them was sure what.

 

Erik was a year into his traineeship in Edinburgh when Charles graduated. He made the trip back to St. Andrews to watch him graduate, and they ended up in bed together again. Hank and Raven assumed that Charles would move to Edinburgh to be closer to Erik, even if they had no idea why Charles was continuing to associate himself with the man. But Charles didn't move to Edinburgh, he moved to Newcastle to continue his postgraduate study, because he was more determined than ever to become a psychologist, especially since his mother thought it was useless.

Edinburgh was roughly two and a half hours from Newcastle by car. They traded off weekends, Charles making the trip one week, Erik the next. And somehow, seeing each other for two days a week, with a five hour round trip drive involved in that, made them realize how important the other was to them. Charles finally told Erik that he was in love with him. Erik finally realized that he loved Charles back.

Hank and Raven monitored the situation from London, but after a weekend in which all four of them met up, they gave Charles their approval again. “Erik's a good guy when he's not being an asshole” was the phrase used by Hank, but Raven stuck with the tried and true.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was back on, and they were in love.

 

It had taken Erik seven years, much of which was spent convincing his family that he knew was he was doing when he said he wanted to live and work in Scotland, but he was finally a solicitor. He got a job offer in Edinburgh, and given the state of the job market, both he and Charles knew the smart thing to do was to accept it, so Erik stayed in Edinburgh while Charles was still working on his postgraduate studies in Newcastle. But with the hours he had to spend on his work, Erik started to spend more time in Edinburgh by himself, canceling weekends with Charles before Charles could even bring them up.

Charles called him at four in the morning one night and heard a male voice in the background. Erik tried to explain that it was just Azazel, they were just working on a case, but Charles knew what Erik sounded like when he was drunk, and Erik was drunk. He didn't give him any more time to explain, just hung up the phone and refused to answer it when Erik called him back.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was back off, and as far as Charles was concerned, it was for good.

 

Charles wanted to be close to his mother once he graduated, but he didn't want to live in Glasgow, so he moved to Paisley. He got a job, he found a flat to live in, and he tried to move on with his life. After awhile, he fell into a rhythm, and soon, he was only thinking of Erik every other day instead of every day. But he hadn't spoken to Erik in almost two years, and he was slowly coming to terms with the fact that it was really, truly, over for good.

Then, six months after he'd moved to Paisley, he walked into a cinema and saw Erik at the counter, getting popcorn. Erik turned to look in his direction, and when their eyes met, it said everything that they couldn't. Charles took a deep breath and walked over to him, found out they were seeing the same film, and started laughing. Erik slung an arm around Charles's shoulders as they walked into the theater, Charles held the popcorn as they settled down into seats, and by the time the film was over, dinner was a foregone conclusion.

By the time dinner was over, they'd established that Erik had been offered a better job in Paisley and had just moved there a month earlier, they were living within four blocks of each other, and time apart had only made Erik realize that what they had was what he wanted. He wanted Charles, no one else. Charles made it clear that it wasn't going to be that easy to get him back, and Erik said he understood. He asked Charles out on a date, a real, proper date like they'd never done before, and Charles couldn't keep from smiling as he said yes.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was back on.

 

Erik wanted to do something special for Charles's thirtieth birthday, and so he suggested a trip to Munich. Charles was all for it until he found out that Erik still had not told his parents that he was looking for a man, not a woman, to spend the rest of his life with. This culminated in a huge fight that resorted in Erik storming out of Charles's flat, claiming Charles could never understand why he couldn't tell them. Charles spent three days hoping that Erik would change his mind and come back before giving up on the phone call that he knew was never coming.

He called Hank to tell him, but Hank had some news first. He had proposed to Raven on her twenty-ninth birthday, and after hearing that, Charles couldn't tell Hank that he and Erik had broken up AGAIN. Instead he put the lovebirds on speakerphone and listened to all their ideas for their wedding and plans for the future while he clung to a throw pillow and silently cried, wondering if that would ever be him with anyone.

Because it wasn't going to be with Erik. That had become obvious.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” tipped back to off.

 

Charles was an usher at Hank and Raven's wedding, and he nearly fell over from shock when Erik showed up. He had no idea that Erik had been invited, and he had been quite certain that, after finally telling Hank and Raven that he and Erik had split up again, Erik wasn't going to be invited. After he recovered, he plastered a smile on his face, showed Erik to his seat, noted that it was on Raven's side of the aisle, and silently cursed interfering American women with propensities for coming up with phrases like “the longest on/off relationship EVER.”

At the reception, Raven dragged Charles onto the dance floor, told him all about a conversation she'd had with Erik about how he needed to finally be true to himself or he was never going to be happy, and then told him to go get the man he loved. But Charles didn't listen, not at that moment, nor when Hank told him basically the same thing while watching Raven dance with his dad.

But when Erik approached him, handed him a beer, and told him that he was an idiot who was afraid of losing his parents, Charles listened. He listened to Erik say that he'd gone back to Munich and told his parents in person about how he'd fallen in love with a man named Charles, and his fear of losing them had lost him Charles. And Charles, despite every logical bone in his body telling him to push Erik away, pulled Erik closer and kissed him softly before linking their fingers together and telling Erik he was on his last chance.

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was back on, this time for good.

 

They took it slowly once they were back in Paisley, but eventually Erik moved into Charles's flat. And then when that flat became too small for law books and psychology books and shelf after shelf of DVDs and Blu-Rays, closets full of suits for work and casual clothes for the weekends, a sofa that was broken one night when they thought the bedroom was just too far away, and four televisions that not even they were sure how they'd acquired, Erik suggested that they buy a house. They looked for months for the right place before finally finding an old Victorian four-bedroom near Paisley Abbey, and when Charles had asked why they needed three extra bedrooms, and Erik had implied that maybe it might be nice to have children some day, Charles had just grinned and asked where to sign the paperwork.

Charles never found it curious that Erik was always on top of the knowledge that civil partnerships started in 2005 or that same-sex adoption was legalized in 2009, or the latest on the fight for marriage equality. He just figured that Erik needed to know these things for work. But when Erik told him that same-sex marriage had been legalized and was just awaiting royal assent, well, Charles found it curious. Erik was acting funny, and if there was anything Charles knew after all their years together, it was when Erik was hiding something. But Erik refused to say what it was, and Charles eventually gave up, knowing that Erik would tell him when he was ready.

He hadn't expected it to come in the form of a gold band in a velvet box sitting on his nightstand on his thirty-fifth birthday, with a note written in Erik's typical scrawl saying “how about New Year's Eve?” on it. He hadn't expected the rush of emotion that welled up within him just staring at it, or when Erik had slid his arms around Charles's waist and made it clear that he knew Charles was awake and that he was nervously awaiting an answer. Charles just reached for the box, set the note to the side, and pulled the ring out of it. He flipped it around in his fingers for a moment before shakily asking if Erik had gotten one for himself too. He could feel Erik grinning into his back as he said yes, there was one for him too.

Erik took the ring from Charles's fingers and slid it onto the right one, and then there was kissing and crying and declarations of love and at the end of it, Charles let his eyes close and thought of how ridiculously happy he was to have finally reached that moment with the only man he'd ever really loved.

 

 

So, New Year's Eve, 2014. It is set to be a monumental day in the history of Scotland, the first day upon which same-sex couples can legally marry. It is going to be a pretty monumental day for a thirty-five-year-old psychologist and a thirty-seven-year-old solicitor in Paisley too, because it is the day on which they will marry. It is a marriage long in the making, and will legally consummate what their friends liked to call “the longest on/off relationship EVER.”

And thus, “the longest on/off relationship EVER” was firmly, and permanently, on.


End file.
